Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Comic-Con Ramblings Part 1 - Law School at the Con; Robot Chicken and the Parody/Satire Dichotomy

I.Comic Book Law School - I've
been attending comics conventions around the country for over a decade, and
have spent the last five years speaking as a lawyer and scholar on the
intersection of comics and the law. The past two years I have been a panelist
on the hot topics panel portion of the three-day Comic Book Law School program
presented at the San Diego International Comic-Con - billed as the largest such
convention in the world. My friend and colleague, Beverly Hills IP attorney
Michael Lovitz, does the pro bono
service of offering this program to attendees (a mixed bag of lawyers, artists
and fans) every year.

Each year I participate I am reminded that those of
us in legal education, or in active practice representing relatively savvy clients
in IP matters, tend to lose sight of how for many members of society, the basic
principles of IP law are a mystery.Popular myths are persistent (i.e.: you can obtain the legal protection
of copyright by mailing a copy of the work to yourself), and there is often
confusion as to what a copyright protects - the idea/expression dichotomy is a
source of much confusion.

Given the increasing importance IP has in society,
it may be worthwhile for colleges, and possibly high schools (yes, even in this
cash-strapped time for public education), to offer training in basic IP law
(copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, unfair competition and right of
publicity) in an array of concentration areas in their curriculum. IP issues
are important in the Business Administration field;in Computer Science;in Political Science; and in all aspects of arts education, ranging
from music to film. Law schools and local bar associations should encourage
faculty and IP practitioners to offer talks, lectures and classes in their
areas of expertise, to shed much needed light about these subjects.

2.Robot Chicken and the Parody/Satire
dichotomy - Robot Chicken is a stop-motion animated
television series created by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich, which airs as
part of the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming. The show makes me laugh often, and cringe occasionally. The creators and writers presented a hilarious panel at last week's Comic-Con.

The IMDb industry website
characterizes the show's non-stop sketches as "satire", and the
Wikipedia entry calls the program a "parody" show.The reason for the confusion is that it
offers a bit of both forms of content. Using toys, action figures and dolls,
the sketches skewer pop culture in a broad array of contexts, from movies, to
television, reality shows to comics. Celebrity voices add to the wicked sense
of humor, with the celebrities often showing the good sense to participate in
episodes that poke fun at themselves.

In between the intentionally juvenile barf and fart
jokes can be found mordantly funny and sometimes dark or dry humor that
parodies popular movies, television and related media, as well as sketches that
satirize pop culture trends (the sketch which takes four popular children's
toys in the My Little Pony series, and recasts them as the Four Ponies of the Apocalypse
comes to mind). From a teaching standpoint, the show offers a great opportunity
to illustrate the difference between parody and satire, as well as an
opportunity to showcase the principle that the First Amendment exists not just
to protect content we enjoy, but also material that we find offensive - as the
content of this program is often likely to offend at least some, if not most,
of its viewers at one point or another - no one and nothing is immune from its
reach.

Of interest also is the fact that despite the
sometimes very dark tone of its parodies and satires, the creators of Robot
Chicken have not apparently been sued, neither for copyright infringement, nor
a violation of rights of publicity, or of defamation (their parodies of Paris
Hilton and Lindsey Lohan are particularly provocative). This may be, at least
in part, due to what has become known as the Streisand effect - the idea that
suing might bring more unwelcome attention to the defendant's conduct, and that
the better tactic is to simply wait out the fifteen minutes of fame the parody
will draw, before the fickle public and media moves on.

In my next Comic-Con related blog post,I will address violence by fanatic fans at
the Con, and I'll summarize the state of comics censorship and the ongoing work
of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund...stay tuned till then.

1 comment:

This post raised some really good points on the lack of "IP Awareness" among many business professionals. I'd really like to see universities offer some type of Intro to IP course that is mandatory for all business majors, especially for schools around Silicon Valley. Basic IP concepts, including trade secrets, idea misappropriation, and work for hire issues are essential concepts that tech companies deal with everyday.

Welcome

Welcome to my IP Buzz Blog! As a Golden Gate University law professor and attorney I have been working in the intellectual property arena for over 30 years, and in that time I have learned that it is a field in which I never stop finding new, intriguing, frustrating and fascinating news, cases, practice and policy issues. In this blog I will share my discoveries and reactions to IP related events, and I welcome your responses to my posts. Bookmark this page, as the content will be changing at least twice weekly, and more frequently as events dictate.